Strong Warriors Don't Die
by StoriesOfStuff
Summary: Eren finds out the Colossal titan has returned, and it's his job to take care of it while the others are bruised and bloody. He wins, but doesn't get a prize. Rated T for: Sadness, Action
1. The Battle

I zipped through the air with my 3DMG. Levi soared next to me, focusing ahead. I glanced at him then forward again. We were on a mission in the forest outside Wall Maria to clear titans so we can travel safely. The job was easy. Hundreds of men were seen flashing past the necks of Titans, all of them falling as suddenly. Levi halted on a tree branch and I parked next to him.  
"It's like they all suddenly fell tired," I said to Levi, a much shorter captain.  
"Yep," he replied simply, an expressionless look wiped across his face. He looked over to me."Let's stop wasting time and go," he murmured, and bolted away so fast. I always thought: How is he that fast? The world will never know. I zipped after him to see him slicing the neck of a scrawny 3-meter class. A titan flashed his hand in front of Levi when he wasn't looking, so I took action and rocketed past his neck, slicking a fine chunk out of it. The titan roared and collapsed. "Well done, Eren," Levi commented, and dropped to the ground, kicking the titan I killed. I joined in next to him. Suddenly, the voice of Connie above us screamed "Are you stuck to Levi or something?" He was standing on a branch. "It's like you're in love." Levi flared red. He growled and used his gas to stand next to Connie. The two talked, and Connie laughed and rubbed the back of his head a few times. Levi wore the same expression. Suddenly, Levi swung his leg and kicked Connie, tossing him off the branch to land next to me. He was on his stomach and groaning.

"what made him think that we're in any sort of relationship?" he spat. "If I were, it would be more like I'm your dad than your lover." He glared at me with a humorous expression and blasted away. Meh, Connie was right. I should split up.

The forest was quiet. the only sound was the wind whispering through the trees as I sat on a branch, looking around. It suddenly got boring on this mission. I jumped up when a fragile hand touched my shoulder. I swung around to see a young boy with blonde hair and bangs.  
"Armin, you scared me!" I hissed at him, almost slapping him. Armin smiled and laughed quietly.  
"Geez, I was just coming to tell you the mission's done, and that we only lost one man I've never met," Armin said, putting both his hands on my shoulder. I sighed and shook from his grasp.  
"I'll beat you to Wall Rose!" I screamed, and zipped away. The air rustled my hair as I looked behind me to see Armin catching up fast. Suddenly, his face turned horrified, and I slammed into something hard, fainting and collapsing on the ground.

I woke up on a horse. My head hurt like you wouldn't beleive. Armin was beside me, a long cord connecting the two steeds. I was slumped over the horse, and I struggled upright.  
"You hit a Titan's back," Levi shouted over to me. I looked around and felt my head. A bandage made its way around. "You've been hurting yourself too much, kid. You may be able to regenerate and turn into a titan, but you can't live forever." He looked at me for a few seconds, then looked away. I was apparently near the front, and Levi was seen WAYYY up front. I held tight on the reins, my hands sweating didn't make it any better. I brushed the hair out of my face with a finger and rubbed the back of the horse's neck.  
"Good girl," I said to Catana, my horse. I picked that name because my grandmother's horse was Catana. Atleast that's what mom said. I looked back up ahead of me to see the exit of the forest nearing. We walked along sluggishly on a gray brick path. Levi turned back around to me.  
"Armin saved you for once," Levi shouted. I blushed. Wait- Armin saving me?!  
"It was payback for when you ripped me out of the titans mouth and, well, died," he said, and looked over to me. "You fainted, anyway." I laughed quietly with Armin, and we continued on through a clear path with no titans or troubles. But I got suspicious...

Hanji stared at me excitingly. "Ohhh, I can't beleive you made it back! Almost no one was injured, and only one man died! Wow, I wonder why there were, like, no titans there. That forest is usually swarming..." I gazed off in a trance, seeing Hanji as only a flashing movement as she flailed her hands in the air excitingly. I stared across the Mess Hall, chewing on a bread chunk slowly, to look at Bertolt. That was one man I could never trust. He always reminded me of something I can't put my finger on. I squinted my eyes at him and focused back in on Hanji, listening to her blabble. "I wonder, how many titans did Levi kill?" She paused to actually let me answer.  
"Errr... About three? Everyone else got 0-2. Also, most of them were really short. The highest I saw was a nine meter class." I glanced up to her and sipped my milk awkwardly. Hanji wore a smile and slammed her hands on the table.  
"Only that short? Wow... That's odd," she murmured and gazed off. She stood with a confused look on her face and finally walked away. I sighed and bit a chunk of my bread again. Armin sat in front of me, placing his tray full of food down in front of him.  
He took a giant bite of his bread. "You didn't get a lot of food." Armin was right. I only got a piece of bread and half a potato for dinner. And milk, of corse. "Is something wrong?" he said, minimal fright in his eyes. I shook my head and sipped my milk. He sighed. "C'mon, we all know if you don't get a lot of food, you're confused."  
I set my elbows on the table and held my hands together, leaning my forehead on them. "I'm confused why there weren't any big titans. I mean, there's always atleast a 10 meter class, but the highest one was one nine meter. The shortest was a two and a half. It just bugs me." Armin stared at me as I sipped my milk, wearing the same desperate expression. He sighed and took a bite of his corn.  
"I agree. It was odd. Like the others were at a meeting of some sort. I wonder..." He and I sat quietly for the rest of dinner until we had to do drills. During drills, I beat the crap outta Jean, but still had that question: Where did they go? I decided not to worry about it.

At the cabin, there were no lights. It was awkwardly silent. Everyone but me was asleep. I stared around the room, laying on my side boredly. I groaned outwardly. There was nothinggggggg to doooooooo. I slapped my hands on my face and rubbed downward to pull my eyelids. I flopped my hands down and threw my covers off me. Crawling out of bed quietly, I looked around to make sure no one heard me. I was going to go get something to eat or drink. Maybe warm milk? That sounded nice. So I tip-toed out of the cabin across the dirt ground still in my pajamas. When I got to the mess hall, I saw Levi in a thick, brown robe sipping a cup of tea. He looked up to me and set down the mug, wiping his mouth before speaking- with a napkin, of corse.

"You couldn't sleep? I thought so." He sipped his tea before continuing. "I wondered why there weren't any titans." The mess hall was dark except for a lonely lantern on the table in front of the Captain. He beckoned me to come sit next to him. I shrugged off the feeling of sitting next to the Captain and sat, making as much space as possible. He sipped his tea once again and wiped his mouth neatly with the napkin. He stared in the white mug, stood up, and walked over to a booth with a coffee machine on it. He picked up a jug of steaming water.

"Can you get me some milk?" I said over to him, holding up my hand lightly. He glanced back at me with that deathly expression. He lifted and eyebrow and shrugged, making a "meh" to say yes. He set aside his mug, picked up another on another booth, and poured in white liquid. He carried the two mugs over, sat down, and set one down in front of me filled with milk to the rim perfectly. I looked down on it then to Levi, my hands in my lap nervously.

I was about to take a sip of my milk until the ground erupted with a thunderous noise, throwing Levi and I up in our chairs, along with the other tables and the mugs, sending them on their side to spill everywhere. Levi gazed around with his death face surprisingly, taking no notice of the spill. Odd, Levi always cleans up the spill. He jumped out of his chair and slammed his head on the table, staring at me.

"Wake up everyone in the cabin. Don't let them snooze or anything. We NEED to go to Wall Rose NOW," he growled, and yanked his hands from the table, running down the hall with the robe flying behind him majestically. I scrambled out of my seat just as Levi burst through the doors to the outside and hollered loudly. I chased after him, but instead following him, I went to my cabin in the deep night and threw open the doors.

"GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!" I hollered, storming to my bed to throw some clothes on as fast as possible. Just as Connie finally sat up, which took forever, I finished putting on my clothes. Armin immediately threw on clothes. The ground erupted again, throwing everyone out of their beds if they liked it or not. The girl cabin next door blasted with high-pitch screams of the wusses. Everyone in the boy cabin threw something on- Jean threw on a tight neon green t-shirt, and Reiner slapped on a black long-sleeve with a collar. We all darted out to see everyone gathered and clicking on their 3dmg with fright. We lined up neatly in order A-Z. Levi stood in front of us, sweat dripping down his head.

"The Colossal Titan has returned. Everyone but Mikasa, Erwin, Hanji and I will fight the titans below. Eren will turn into a titan and defeat the titans below too unless the Armored Titan appears. He will then fight him." His gaze flickered along us, all of us nervously shivering but standing like statues with our arms glued to our sides. "Alright, let's go!"

The Colossal Titan loomed over Wall Rose, destroying the district before it. Everyone zipped around houses with 3dmg. Everything was so quiet, you could hear a mouse squeal. Everyone paused and landed on houses in a row. The Colossal Titan just... Stood there.

"Everyone, the people I called will go up there and slice the titan's neck. Everyone else stay put just in case somet-"

The wall shattered and sent such a powerful wind you couldn't stay put. Screams of shrill terror arose from the group as I flew back. A scream erupted in my neck, releasing itself almost loud enough to break my eardrum. Squad Levi landed with a thud in unison further towards Wall Sina. I landed in a crawling position and held a hand to my head, looking up and squinting at the dirt and sun poisoning my eyes.

What I saw was a muscle titan. But it was no ordinary Muscle titan, it was an old enemy: The Armored Titan. He had shattered Wall Rose. I stared at him in fright.

"T-The Armored Titan!" I squealed. Everyone looked up and gasped at the sight. The Armored Titan was less than fifty feet away, halted in a running position. He glanced up and looked at me strain in the eyes.

"Eren! You can do this!" Hanji screamed. I stared around at everyone. It was now or never.

But the world fell still. No sound at all. I just stared around, my hand lifted to my mouth. I had to save these people.

Connie, Sasha, Armin, Levi, Hanji, Erwin, Reiner, Jean, and the other comrades counted on me. But especially Mikasa. She stared at me with loving eyes, but at the same time sorrowful. My life snapped back into action.

"Eren, promise me you won't die," she screamed to me, even though she was right next to me and she didn't have to scream. I nodded.

'I will kill the Armored Titan,' I thought, and pictured me ripping his flesh apart. I sunk my teeth in my hand, only feeling a temporary pain before seeing a flash of light and feeling hot skin melt around me.

I roared in fury, I was now the Rogue Titan.

I stood and stared at the Armored Titan, dusty fog swirling on the ground. The Armored Titan just stared back to me.

I knew I would kill him.

I clenched my fists. He stood strait, and looked prepared to beat me. But I wouldn't allow that. My hair was blown back and my mouth emitted smoke. We both had a temporary staring contest until I got in a running position. He did the same.

And we charged.

The force of the collision made me feel my muscles partially die. Our hands gripped and we pushed each other, dipping our heads and staring into each other's eyes. We sent thoughts back and forth.

"I will kill you, Rogue," he said.

"I will not die unless I kill you first, Armored," I replied. I roared in fury and pushed him harder, sending him to scrape the ground with his heels in attempt to stop me. But I continued to push.

We were thrown back when we both unlocked our grip and decided to fight hand-on-hand combat. I saw the people of Squad Levi fly past me as little specks of black. I rocketed a fist into the Titan's face, making my hand feel furious pain as the skin on the knuckles was gone. I pulled my hands back and held them up into an offensive position. The Armored titan was on the ground, until he shifted into a crawling position, smoke emitting from the left side of hid face where I punched him. He roared, his bony jaw splitting, and he uppercut me, but I grabbed his hand and twisted it. I yanked on it until I felt release as the muscle rip. The armored titan roared in tremendous fury. I realized we had fell back so we were next to a tall stone building. I stared at the building and thought: If I make the rocks collapse on the titan, then he'll die of suffocation. I thundered a scream and bolted towards him, only for him to move a side, just as I expected. I rammed my head in the stone wall. My head had been completely wrecked now, I heard a thunderous crack and felt the wall collapse in. I swung around to him, my head thudding with pain, and charged at him. I tackled him and pinned him, interlocking our fingers and grabbing the stub of his arm left from when I ripped it. The steam burned, but I ignored it. The armored titan screamed in fury and tried to push me off. I felt weak from the head injury, until I heard a wail.

"Eren! No!" Mikasa screamed. I stared up to see her pointing to behind me. I stared behind, to see the wall beginning to fall. I just had to hold down the Armored titan a little longer... Then I remembered, if he's crushed, I'm crushed too. But that didn't matter. As long as Mikasa and Armin were safe, he was okay. He swung his head back to lock his gaze in the Armored Titan's black glowing orbs of eyes and pushed his hand and stub down to make his elbows dig in the ground. He gazed in horror and I felt a shadow above me. I roared at the Armored Titan, and lifted the fist holding his stub, to wham his head hard in the ground repeatedly. I finally stopped when half my hand was gone and the Armored Titan's face was nothing but skull and raw meat. I stood, knowing he lost, and saw a figure flash past me. Mikasa! I tried to roar at her to stop trying to get me, for the wall was about to crash upon us.

"No, Eren! I must protect you!" she cried, tears streaming down her face. I reached out a hand and grabbed her, feeling the wind of the stone wall on my back. I had no choice, but to chuck her away. I heard a wail of sorrow and terror.

The world slowed down.

I gazed up to see Mikasa flying through the air, tears flying from her face as she barreled backwards in very slow motion. She wailed helplessly. Oh, Mikasa. Why did I do this to you? I felt the weight of the stone wall land on my back slowly. Another figure tried to fly towards me. Armin? He was screaming at the top of his lungs, crying. But it was too late.

"I will always protect you, Mikasa," I thought, roaring in agony before the world went black.

If you go down next to the review, you can see the next chapter VVV


	2. The Hospital

My face burned.

I opened my eyes halfway, to see a figure over me. Little pitter-patters of cold sensation landed on my face as I was vigorously shaken up and down. Fuzzy screams erupted from above me, sounding congested. I hurt too much, so I just decided to close my eyes again.

There were low repetitive tones near me. It was all white and fuzzy when I opened my eyes. Everything shook into focus and I sat up painfully, a pillow behind my back and I laying in a white bed. The room was nice, a window on the left of me swayed white curtains. It was a little box, maybe 20 by 20 feet, and a hallway in front of me about five feet with a pale door. I looked next to me too see something standing, with the screen flashing red in an awkward pattern. I sighed outwardly, but I realized how much my chest hurt and coughed. It was hard to breathe. I looked up to the sound of the door clicking open, and a nurse with brown hair in a bun pushing a cart with a towel over it smiled ear-to-ear. I stopped coughing.

"Good, you're awake. I'll just leave the cart next to your bed and bring on in the others," she said, and did what she said, pushing a cart in front of a white coffee table decorated in swirly designs and a round handle with a white lamp on it. She waved her hands excitedly in front of her and walked out the door. Wait, who were the others? I slumped back, feeling tired from my awkward breathing and my heard thudding incorrectly in my chest. I gazed around, noticing a couch on the right and left side of the wall next to the hallway, both white. The door slammed open and I clutched my heart, which thudded louder in fright. Mikasa bolted to my bed and grabbed my face.

"You're okay! I was so worried! I can't believe-" I couldn't understand anything else she said, due to covering my face with kisses all over. I attempted to laugh, but just coughed. She backed away worriedly and stared at me, glossy-eyed. Levi and Armin both came in too, sitting on the left couch. Levi just looked in the cracks of the couch and pulled out a crumb, scowling. That's Levi for you. Armin had rosy cheeks and big eyes as he stared at me. Mikasa sat on the right couch, slouching over sadly. I lifted a right hand painfully to try to grab the towel on the cart. The nurse sat in a white chair next to the white coffee table with a white lamp and grabbed the towel, whipping it off to reveal doctor tools, medicine, and many more etc. items. I smiled to her. She reached on the bottom shelf and brought out a little cup of pills. Ughh, pills.

"These will help you breathe," she said, and gave me two cups: both dixie cups, one with water, the other with round badge pills. I held them both to see the hand closest to the computer-beeby-thing had a cord sticking in it. I would see where it went, but it would be a waste of time. I swallowed the pills with my water and almost choked on them. When I finished swallowing, I coughed. Mikasa sat half-way out of her chair, Armin's eyes widened, and Levi just looked up from busily cleaning under his nails with a toothpick that sat on a glass coffee table next to the couch in the corner. I sighed outwardly to stop the coughing. Everyone sat in silence for a while. I was like a potato on a couch, and the others just tapped their fingers or their shoes while Levi cleaned his nails, still.

"So, the brat lived?" Levi said, looking up to stare at my eyes with his silver. I gulped painfully and nodded. "Huh, I was sure you were dead when the stone fell on you." He stared at the window but still talked. "We killed the Colossal Titan. It turned out he was Bertolt. The Armored Titan was recovered, he was Reiner," he said. I knew I couldn't trust Bertolt! "They're both fine, Bertolt wasn't as hurt as you were, considering you landed partially on top of him." A clock ticked nearby as we sat in silence.

I breathed in heavily, pain arising in my chest as I tried to speak, "I...aw th..rmor'd titan," I struggled. I could barely talk so I just takes in phrases or part of the word. Levi grunted. I was surprised he could even understand me. Everywhere from the bottom of my ribs down was numb, but was still there, so I had to struggle to sit back up. My heart rate quickened as I heaved myself. I thudded to my bottom and let out an exhausted sigh. The nurse came in and nodded to the three, they all stood up, looked back to me at different times, and left.

I woke up in the room again, this time two doctors with brown hair looming over me, with a white mask on. I shuddered and gasped, feeling as if I couldn't breathe. The doctors backed up. One doctor pulled out a walkey-talkey thing and said into it, "Clear." The doctors picked up a mechanism with two clothes-iron-lookin thingies. They both left at the same time and I stuttered, tears dripping from my eyes. I could hear murmured talking outside. It went silent for a second and Mikasa came in, standing next to my bed with dark streaks down her face from tears. I stared up at her. She lifted a frail, shaky hand, and grabbed my left one. Her lip trembled, and she burst into tears. I rubbed her head with my other hand as she face planted on the bed, muffling her sobs. I shushed her, struggling because of my cracked lips and lack of air. I felt dizzy and weak, so I coughed, tasting salty liquid. Mikasa stared at me in fear, her eyes watering seriously. She pulled away and grabbed a tissue from the white coffee table with a white lamp from a white tissue box. She wiped my lips and showed me I was coughing blood. I leaned back against the pillow.

I guess I could just sleep. I was fairly tired and weak. Mikasa shook me and screamed at me, so I flicked open my eyes and was determined to keep them open. The nurse came in and pulled Mikasa's arm, leaving her being dragged. The nurse whispered in her ear, and Mikasa burst into choking sobs. I sighed as she ran out of the room. The nurse stared at me with painfully sad eyes. She shook her head and closed her eyes lightly. Leaving, she pressed her hands on her face. I was confused, but it hit me.

I was going to die.

I shuddered at the thought and began to cry, my throat clogging. I didn't notice that the whole gang came in that knew me well.

Connie, Jean, Sasha, Levi, Armin, Mikasa, Hanji, Erwin, and some others I couldn't remember due to being so weak and sick. Hanji was bawling louder than anyone else, except maybe Sasha and Mikasa. Hanji stopped at the side of my bed and threw her arms around me, shaking me. I gasped and choked for air, so Levi yanked me back. She flailed her arms out in front of her only to stop when the short Levi punched her arm. She sniffed and held her hands to her chest.

Levi sighed and walked up to my bed, placing his hand on mine.

"You were a good brat. I never wanted this to happen... I never wanted it to be you," he murmured, and squeezed my hand before letting go and going over to comfort Hanji, his face serious, but a hint of sadness in his eyes. Armin, Mikasa, Jean, and Sasha lined up around my bed, just staring at me with all teary eyes. Mikasa cried lightly, and placed a hand on my face.

"Eren, why you, I was supposed to protect you. I failed you. This is all my fault," she wept gently, pulling her hands to her face. Armin comforted her. Armin stared at me.

"You're going to see the outside world soon, Eren, and I want you to take this with you," he said. He gently pulled a chain bracelet with blue ribbon on it and set it on the bed on my stomach. It was his friendship bracelet I never wanted. I felt my heart thud faster with pain, and began to cry as I picked it up with my needle-hand and wrap it around my other. The crowd began to cry at the same time, wailing and gasping. I cried too.

Then, my breath became very sputtery, and my heart sped up. A doctor flung Sasha out of the way and set a machine on the bed as I closed my eyes, my whole body racking with pain. I couldn't move anything, and all I could see through my split open eyes was a crowd of frantic people running around or standing, sobbing. I managed to make out Mikasa, who stared at my face from the left side of my bed with Armin next to me.

"I...ove...you..." I managed to say before I let my eyelids shut completely and a wave of dark lulled me to sleep. I heard nothing but a high-pitch ring after that.

I was dead.


	3. The Flatline

(Told in Third)

Mikasa stared at Eren, her eyes clouded and her throat stinging. The doctor slammed his defibrillator to his chest, sending his jumping up slightly. Armin held the sobbing Mikasa close, blocking out the wails and thudding of shoes on the room.

**"Quiet!"** Levi screamed, making everyone halt and stand still, crying into each other or alone. Erwin held Hanji under him, and Levi just stared with a deadly look. The doctor did one more shock. The room fell so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The doctor stood strait and sighed.

Mikasa gasped as he pulled off a glove, then the other, then yanked off the mask. He stared down in guilt. "He's gone."

Mikasa yanked away from Armin. "Nonononoononononono! It can't be! He's just in a coma-"

"He's gone, m'am." He stared at her with a sorrowful gaze. Mikasa felt herself fall back into Armin's arms. The only sound was a endless low beep.

Levi sat on his bed, his face buried in his hands. 'Strong men don't cry, strong men don't cry,' he thought. But he gave in and bawled. He stood and stopped at an empty wall with bumps, aka his punching wall. He counted: 132 for dead men, 1 for Petra, Oluo, and the others, and now, one for Eren. He raised his fist and blasted the wall, unexceptionally breaking the wall through. He sobbed and fell back on his bed; he can't believe he just let Eren go ahead and fight the titan by himself.

Mikasa, Armin, and the rest of the gang stared at the pile of dirt solemnly. It was on a hill with a lonely tree, and in front of it was a gravestone. It said:

_Eren Jaeger_

_R.I.P_

_Lost in sight, forever in the mind's eye_

Mikasa bawled against Armin, who was bawling too, along with everyone else.

Eren gazed down upon the crowd, staring at Armin and Eren. "Eren, c'mon you lazy butt!" Petra called from behind him. He stood up to see Petra, Oluo, his mother, and more standing to meet him. He smiled and gazed back down to the crowd, but ran back to the dead-gang to go get some tea.

~End~


End file.
